Prosecution of Pregnant Drug Abusers

Prosecution of Pregnant Drug Abusers Drug abuse is an epidemic in our country. While substance abuse is commonly thought to be a plague of the poor, the fact is that it is widespread and has no demographic preference. It can affect anyone regardless of age, sex, race and economic status. A group of illicit drug abusers that may be largely overlooked are pregnant women. This group of people not only harms themselves, but also their unborn children. A woman must be held accountable for the health of her unborn baby in terms of drug and alcohol abuse. Prosecuting women who use drugs while pregnant is a way to make these women more aware of their actions as well as becoming a way of motivating them to seek treatment. Increasing numbers of women are abusing drugs during pregnancy and thus endangering the well being and lives of their children as well as themselves. The spreading abuse of phencyclidine (PCP), cocaine, and cocaine's potent form "crack", added to the more well known addictive narcotics such as heroin, has intensified concerns about the implications of maternal drug use for unborn children (www.medceu.com). More than 5 percent of the 4 million women who gave birth in the United States in 1992 used illegal drugs while they were pregnant, according to the first nationally representative survey of drug use among pregnant women (www.nida.nih.gov).

The survey gathered self-report data from a national sample of 2,613 women who delivered babies in 52 urban and rural hospitals during 1992. Based on these data, an estimated 221,000 women who gave birth in 1992 used illicit drugs while they were pregnant. Marijuana and cocaine were the most frequently used illicit drugs--2.9 percent, or 119,000 women, used marijuana and another 1.1 percent, or 45,000 women, used cocaine at some time during their pregnancy (www.nida.nih.gov). The chart below depicts results from this survey, divided into ethnic groups....

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There are around 221,000 women that use illicit drugs while pregnant each year (“American”). This is a problem because the baby consumes what the mother takes (“Substance”). Women should be held criminally responsible for using both drugs and/or alcohol during pregnancy because it endangers the fetus and causes other problems for the parents.
Cocaine is a drug that is illegal to made or sold in most countries (“Drug 362”). In California, for example, possession of cocaine comes with a punishment of time in prison and a fine up to seventy dollars. The sale of cocaine also has a penalty of two to four years in a state prison. The sale of cocaine to or around minors will increase the prison sentence even further; an additional one to nine. North Carolina laws state that the possession of cocaine is a class I felony. The sale of cocaine in North Carolina is a class G felony and if sold to a person sixteen years old or younger or to a pregnant woman, the punishment then becomes a class E felony (“State”).
MDMA is a commonly used drug as well. Possession of MDMA in California could land an offender in prison for a maximum of one year. This is very unlikely however. Possession of MDMA with intent to sell in California is punishable by sixteen months to three years in a state prison (“California”). Texas on the other hand has...

...by parent, guardian, or an adult responsible for his or her welfare. Now, should drug use by pregnant women be considered child abuse? Babies should be born healthy, not have the risk of dying. But, when women are scared to seek prenatal care, abortions are not considered child abuse, and pregnant women have to smoke marijuana for medicinal reasons, might change your mind.
Paul A. Logli, an Illinois prosecuting attorney, argues that it is the government’s duty to enforce children’s rights to begin with a healthy, drug-free minded, and healthy bodies. Cigarette smoking causes serious illness and premature death in the general population. But pregnant women who smoke pass the nicotine and other carcinogenic chemicals to the growing fetus. According to the Centers for Disease Control, mothers who smoke early in their pregnancy are more likely to deliver babies that have several different heart defects, including septal defects – essentially a hole in the wall between the heart’s left and right chambers. Sadly, most infants with congenital heart defects die in the first year of life. Those infants who survive often face lengthy hospital stays and numerous surgeries along with a lifetime of disabilities.
Human costs related to the pain, suffering, and deaths resulting from maternal cocaine use during pregnancy are incalculable. The typical intensive-care costs for treating babies exposed to...

...Many women, including teens, abuse drugs while they are pregnant. This rate is especially high to those who are homeless, underprivileged, or live in a broken home. In order for drugabusers to even have a chance at beating their addiction they have to have support whether it’s family, friends, or boyfriend/spouse. They must also let the abuser now all the consequences to themselves and the unborn child. There are many consequences when using drugs during pregnancy such as miscarriage, health risks to baby, and health risks to the mother. And learning disabilities and brain damage to the fetus.
Cassandra has this feeling that Tiffany doesn’t know how serious and devastating it is to use heroin while she is pregnant. So she decides to educate Tiffany a little bit. Cassandra is walking with Tiffany to the hospital for her second check-up, while walking Cassandra tells Tiffany, “Did you know that Heroin abuse can cause serious complications during pregnancy including miscarriage and premature delivery?” (http://www.uatests.com/drug-information/heroin.html) Tiffany then gives Cassandra this look of shock and says to her crying, “Oh my gosh I didn’t know that I was risking losing my child! How could I have been so ignorant?! I’m risking my child’s life because of my addiction to heroin!” Cassandra then tells her with a heartwarming smile, “It’s okay. I’m here to...

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...How do drugs affect the brain?
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...﻿Drugs
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A drug is a substance which may have medicinal, intoxicating, performance enhancing or other effects when taken or put into a human body or the body of another animal and is not considered a food or exclusively a food.
What is considered a drug rather than a food varies between cultures, and distinctions between drugs and foods and between kinds of drug are enshrined in laws which vary between jurisdictions and aim to restrict or prevent drug use. Even within a jurisdiction, however, the status of a substance may be uncertain or contested with respect to both whether it is a drug and how it should be classified if at all. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage. Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the central nervous system, such as opioids or hallucinogens. They may be used for perceived beneficial effects on perception, consciousness, personality, and behavior. Some drugs can cause addiction and/or habituation.
Marijuana:
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Drugs and Pregnant Women
Introduction
Pregnancy among women drug users, is on the rise in the word today. According to The Universities of Michigan and Pittsburg (April 30, 2012), a baby is born addicted to drugs every hour. These babies are at high risk of experiencing birth defects and possibly growing up to be addicted to drugs as well. Most are born at a very low birth weight, usually under four pounds; which is also an ongoing problem as they grow.
Drugs and Long Term Effects
The drugs that women are using are marijuana, prescription drugs, cocaine, and the worst all, heroin. Heroin has long term effects on both mother and child. Heroin addicts are at high risk for contracting HIV and hepatitis because they are usually sharing needles with other drug users. Other health issues can include fatal overdose, collapsed veins, infection in the heart valves and liver disease. Even after a person stops using heroin the craving for it can last for many years. It is the most addicting drug there is today. It is also one of the cheapest and the easiest to buy. All drugs are bad for babies but heroin seems to be the one with the worst long term health issues for all addicts and the hardest one to stop using. Approximately 9.2 million people use heroin today.
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...are many issues with laws that people disagree with; a major one being the criminal prosecution of pregnant women who abuse drugs and alcohol. State laws are now considerably different in their approach to resolve this problem due to the social outlook on the the issue.(Dailard) The controversy is determining the balence between womens' rights to their body's integrity and society's interest in healthy pregnancies. There is no criminal law against drug abuse during pregnancy. Prosecutors attempt to use criminal laws against pre-natal substance abuse already in effect such as possesion of a controlled substance, delivering drugs to a minor (through the umbilical cord), and neglect.(Dailard) Women appeal these convictions which typically end up overturned on the grounds that a fetus could not be considered a child or person under criminal child abuse statutes. Because of this, the controversy grows and it becomes more difficult to criminally prosecute these women.
On October 4, 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Ferguson v. City of Charleston.(Harris) This case was brought to the Supreme Court by 10 women who were tested for cocaine use without their consent while recieving prenatal care at a South Carolina public hospital. Women who tested positive were turned into the local police and arrested for crminal child abuse. The Court has to decide whether or not drug testing...